Deuter Muller
Deuter Müller is Germany's first choice keeper and one of the best players on this position in the Captain Tsubasa world. Nicknamed the Phantom Keeper, Müller had earned a legendary status in his home country even before his debut for West Germany in the Junior Youth tournament in France. He has been one of the German side's main players since. Due to the severe training on a mountain, Müller is exceptionally strong and tough and remarkably agile for his size. His mere presence in goal gives an impression of impenetrability and he has backed this up by conceding only under extreme circumstances. Synopsis Prior to the J Boys' Challenge Arc Before coming to the world of professional football, Müller had underwent specialized and severe training under [[Gunter|a person he refers to as Master]], secluded in a mountain somewhere in Germany. A year prior to the event of the International Jr. Youth Tournament, the German football champions Stuttgart had a training camp in a small village in the mountains where they played against an amateur local side. Despite being only 15 at the time, Müller kept a clean sheet in a 20-minute game, where the West German champions relentlessly attacked, but failed to score against him. The Stuttgart coach offered Müller a pro contract, but he declined and this is when the legend of the Maboroshi no Keeper (Phantom/Illusion keeper) was born. J Boys' Challenge Arc During the International Jr. Youth Tournament in France, West Germany are the favorites and have a world class offense and midfield, but in defense they show a lack of talent to match their other lines. This is underlined when they concede to Portugal, who aren't noted for anything special. For this reason, the German coach acquired Müller into the team, to have an impenetrable keeper. His first mention is in the closing stages of the Japan - Italy match, when Franz Schester and Manfred Margus note of Gino Hernandez's talent as a keeper and how their own West German team hasn't got a good player for that position. At that time Magath says there's a rumor that the Phantom Keeper will join the team and a vague human silhouette is shown. Müller's first actual appearance is the night before West Germany play Uruguay in the semifinals of the Junior Youth, when he is seen unboarding a plane greeted by the team's coach Mike Guild. Just his back is shown, but it's obvious he is a big and well-built person. As the game against Uruguay is about to start, Müller is on the bench hidden from the spectators' view clutching a football. West Germany's weakness in defense, the goalkeeper position in particular, is quickly shown, as Uruguay need only 50 seconds to open the scoring against them. Seeing that, Müller pops the ball he is holding by just squeezing it with one hand and proceeds to enter the field. He is stopped by the coach at that time and only enters as a substitute once West Germany had reversed the score to 2-1. At that moment, Uruguay have a free-kick and Müller orders the wall of players to disband as because of it he can't see the ball. This enrage Ramon Victorino and the Uruguayan shoots with all his force, only to see the shot caught with one hand by Müller. The keeper immediately throws the ball to Schneider, who organizes a counter-attack resulting in a 3rd goal for West Germany. Müller has no trouble keeping Uruguay from scoring, as he had given Victorino's self-confidence a huge blow and the match ends 6-1, qualifying West Germany for the final. In the final against Japan, Shun Nitta is the first Japanese player to have a chance to shoot, but Müller's presence alone gives a feeling of shooting against him being useless, forcing Nitta to pass. Kojiro Hyuga then gets the ball and gets the same sensation, but shoots regardless. His shot is easily caught. When Tsubasa Ozora has a shooting opportunity, that same feeling overwhelms him, but he does a Drive Shoot nevertheless. Müller proceeds to stop the shot with one hand, shocking the likes of Ken Wakashimazu, Juan Diaz and Gino Hernandez, with the latter even admitting he himself wasn't the best keeper in Europe, but Müller was. Müller then arrogantly throws the ball consecutively towards the Japanese players to test their abilities and one after the other stops a Hayabusa Shoot by Nitta, an Eagle Shoot by Hikaru Matsuyama and a Kamisori Shoot by Makoto Soda. After catching the last one, Hyuga tries shooting while Müller is holding the ball with one hand, but displaying his monstrous strength, the German keeper takes the full impact of Kojiro's shot and doesn't let the ball go. Taking advantage of two of the Japanese defenders overlapping, Müller sends a strong pass to Schneider that passes the entire field. In Japan's next attack, believing it to be the only way to score against Müller, Tsubasa goes right in front of him and tries shooting under his armpit, but Müller saves the shot again. Taro Misaki tries scoring with an overhead kick on the rebound, but Müller dives and catches it. In a later attack, when Wakabayashi had already demonstrated his skills, the German keeper declares his intentions to prove he is the world's best keeper. When Japan concede a free-kick, Müller orders the players not to form a wall, just as he did against Uruguay. After Tsubasa taps the ball forward, Hyuga does a shot with all his strength which goes right under Müller's groin. Surprisingly to everyone, Müller fails to catch the ball and only stops the shot by closing his legs, being pushed a few meters backward by the sheer power of Kojiro's shot. Despite this save, Hyuga deduces that Müller's weakness is shots aimed between his legs. Müller's master remembers how he trained Müller for 6 months by throwing 100 pebbles which the keeper had to stop and how he needed all that time to manage stopping those aimed under his groin. He yells at Müller after he fails to catch a shot by Tsubasa aimed between his legs again, telling his student that his weakness has been corrected and it's only in his subconsciousness. Proving that to be true, Müller saves the next shot by Nitta, solidly catching the ball with one hand, despite it going between his legs. The next time Müller is forced into action, Tsubasa and Hyuga fire a Twin Drive Tiger Shoot against him, which everyone believes will result in Japan equalizing. In a flashback from his training, Müller is having his final lesson with his master in which he must catch three balls thrown from the top of a cliff. However, along with them there are dozens of rocks falling, some even bigger than Müller. After collecting two footballs, Müller notices the last is behind a huge rock and shows great power and determination by punching through the rock and catching the ball even though it results in his hand getting bruised and bloody. Applying the same power and determination, Müller stops the Drive Tiger Shoot with a single hand. In the next attack Müller makes his first mistake in the game. Hyuga and Takeshi Sawada do a Twin Overhead and Müller sneers at the shot, claiming it to be much easier to save than the Drive Tiger Twin Shoot. However, because of the difference in kick power between the Japanese, the ball bends turning into a pass for Misaki who does a diving header. Müller stops it, but fails to notice Tsubasa coming from behind and the Japanese captain pushes his teammate into the goal with a drop kick to his spikes. Müller's master points out that underestimation caused a gap in Müller's judgment and while he did well to realize the shot was a pass, he hadn't noticed the incoming Tsubasa. Thus the first half ends 1-1, with Müller getting scolded during half-time by his tutor for his overconfidence. His master also notes Müller is still young and naive on the mental side. Despite fierce attacks by West Germany at the start of the second half, Japan create a scoring chance when a pumped up Tsubasa fires a Drive Shoot. Müller dives to save it, but Misaki deflects it with a Jumping Volley, which Müller skillfully blocks with his elbow. Tsubasa gets to the rebound, but realizing he can't score because of his foot being numb passes to the incoming Hyuga. The Japan forward does a point-blank Neo Tiger Shoot and despite Müller reacting and catching the ball, it goes on to tear his glove and smash into the goal net. Japan's next attack involves Hyuga shooting on the right side of goal. Because Müller had his hand injured in the previous goal, he makes the save with his left hand, but despite being unable to hold onto the strong shot, he quickly rotates his body and kicks the ball while it's in the air. Near the end of regular time, Japan's last attack results in Tsubasa winning a one-on-one aerial duel with Schneider and making a Drive Shoot which Müller fails to stop. The ball bounces off the crossbar and Tsubasa dives again for an overhead kick. Müller reacts and seems to be about to catch the ball, when it sharply curves upward and stabs the upper net concluding in Japan's 3rd and winning goal. Battle of World Youth Arc The Strongest Opponent! Netherlands Youth It is mentioned that sometimes between the International Jr. Youth Tournament and the World Youth preliminaries, Germany had a friendly match with Netherlands Youth. Müller couldn't play due to his injury, and was replaced by Wakabayashi. In the end Germany lost 1-3. World Youth Tournament For the World Youth tournament, Müller is part of the united German team, consisting of the former West and East Germany. His team comes with great ambitions, but after two wins in the group stage against Colombia and America, Germany are beaten 3-5 by Sweden. The Swedish team had studied Germany extensively and used that knowledge to defeat the Germans, including their captain Stefan Levin using his Levin Shoot to injure both of Müller's hands. Because of this he probably didn't play in the remaining games, where Germany go on to win their quarter-final game against Argentina 3-2, but lose to Brazil in the semi-final by 0-5. Road to 2002 Arc During the Bundesliga season, Müller is in goal for Stuttgart and plays against Wakabayashi's Hamburger SV. The game ends 0-0 after both keepers didn't let goals in. Following the final whistle, Müller tells Wakabayashi to stop Bayern Munich from scoring and wishes Hamburg would defeat them, as that would make the chances of the other teams winning the Bundesliga greater. Rising Sun Arc To be added as series progresses Abilities and Special techniques *'Physical strength': Thanks to his build, Müller has great physical strength. *'Reflex': Müller is remarkably agile for his size, thanks to his severe training. *'Overthrow Catch': By accelerating his arm with a rotating motion, Müller adds power to his swing and is able to stop strong shots as he showed when he caught Tsubasa's Drive Shoot or the Drive Tiger Twin Shoot by Tsubasa and Hyuga. *'Utility player': Müller can also play efficiently as a field player. *'Roulette' Games exclusive *'Giant's Arm': A punching technique when he slides down and saves the shot with his elbow, a reflexive move *'Double Hammer': Swinging the ball down with to fisted hands, a strength punch. Image Trivia * Müller enters the West Germany - Uruguay game wearing the number 18, but plays with the number 1 in the Junior Youth final against Japan. * In Europe, in the 1st anime series, he's called Reiner Bauer. * His name is a reference to the former footballer Dieter Müller de:Dieter Müller Category:Players of Germany Category:Goalkeepers Category:Characters Category:Characters introduced in the Jr. Youth arc